Re: WELLHIT in France

[army]

Posted by Ian Edwards <[email protected]> on Thu, 13 Apr 2000 19:37:10 -0700
Not aware of any book by Rockingham there should be one ABOUT him,
probably is. He was called out of "retirement" in 1950 to command the
25th Canadian Infy Bde Gp, the Canadian Army‘s contribution to the
Korean War. Later became a Major General, and a better officer drunk
which he was much of the time than most sober. Had the pleasure of
listening to him as a guest speaker at a formal dinner once. "Three
sheets to the wind" but very eloquently explained to the audience of
military medal collectorsthat he wore his DSO not for what he did but
on behalf of the men in his regiment who earned it. Well, I can‘t
remember his exact words another on this net was there that night but
we were all highly moved by the man.
> Robert Dehon wrote:
>
> Gentlemen,
>
> Concerning: Operation Wellhit Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, Sept. 44
>
> I spent sometime on the web in order to find a book on Brigadier J. M.
> Rockingham, D.S.O. 9th Infantry Brigade, but the search was
> fruitless. Have you any idea if Brig. Rockingham ever wrote his
> memories and how/where I could buy a copy ?
>
> Many thanks in anticipation.
>
> Robert Dehon
>
> Team-leader La Creche Project
>
> HQ in Belgium
>
> PS: by the way, I was lucky to contact the Officer who arrested
> Generalleutnant Ferdinand Heim Boulognersquos boss in Sept. 44:
> his name is Ronald Grundy, he was Staff Captain with The Buffs Royal
> East Kent Regiment. If anyone could give informations on The
> Buffsrsquos collaboration to 9th Inf. Brig., know they are welcome.
> Thanks again.
>
> PPS: good show, Patrick Cain.
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[army]

Posted by Wyn van der Schee <[email protected]> on Thu, 13 Apr 2000 20:26:04 -0600
Thu, 13 Apr 2000 21:19:42 0200 Robert Dehon" wrote:
>I spent sometime on the web in order to find a book on Brigadier J. M.
>Rockingham, D.S.O. 9th Infantry Brigade, but the search was fruitless.
>Have you any idea if Brig. Rockingham ever wrote his memories and
>how/where I could buy a copy ?
>
>Many thanks in anticipation.
Regrettably, J.M. Rockingham never wrote his memoires or, if he did, they
were not published. He was not really a literary sort. Other than the
official history, there has not been much of historical merit written on
the Canadian participation in the Korean War.
A quick search through the Volume 3 of the Canadian official history of the
Second World War did not turn up any references at all to the Buffs.
Operation Wellhit, the capture of Boulogne, is covered in some detail pp
336 -344 and the surrender of General Heim to Brigadier Rockingham is
mentioned, but nothing about the Buffs. There is a footnote in the account
to the effect that there are two battle honours for Boulogne, one for 1944
and one for 1544 the latter is carried by the Corps of Gentlemen at Arms,
which participated in a siege of the city under Henry VIII.
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